Di Matteo plays down title chances

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo is still refusing to declare his side as genuine title contenders despite their impressive 4-2 win over Tottenham.

PUBLISHED: 08:05, Sun, Oct 21, 2012

Roberto Di Matteo's Chelsea fought back for victory at Tottenham [PA]

The Blues came from 2-1 behind to claim their seventh Barclays Premier League win of the season as Di Matteo's attacking players continue to impress. Yet despite the result, Di Matteo believes it is premature to start talking about whether Chelsea are the favourites for the Premier League title.

"I think I would say it is too early to say that," he said. "There are 30 games still to play. It makes us a team that is strong and makes our start even better, but with 30 more games I still think that you have to wait until the Christmas period."

Defender Gary Cahill opened the scoring for Chelsea but early second-half goals from William Gallas and Jermain Defoe put the home side ahead. Chelsea managed to get back into the game and secured the victory thanks to two quick-fire strikes from Juan Mata and a late tap-in for Daniel Sturridge.

The stand-out performances from the visitors to White Hart Lane came from their flair players with Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar all catching the eye.

Di Matteo is happy with the way his new-look side are playing, but said he would not compromise results just to play good football.

"Ultimately we want to win games, we want to win in the way we think we can win games with the players we have," he said. "We don't go out and just say 'let's play good football and lose'. Our philosophy is to play in a certain way because we believe with the players we have that is the way to win games."

Villas-Boas felt the passion of the occasion may have counted against his side as they looked to hold on to their 2-1 lead.

"I think on the positive side we have shown great strength of character to come back into the game in the second half," he said. "The amount of intensity was a problem because we wanted to calm the game down, but calming a game down at this level is extremely difficult.

"There is so much passion involved and so much emotion - it was so frenetic, us losing the ball and them losing the ball."